FALMOUTH, Ma. – Danville, Kentucky’s Luke Gaffney is certainly leaving a mark on the Cape Cod Baseball League in just his first week’s worth of games. The Falmouth Commodores first baseman is coming off a tremendous redshirt freshman season at Purdue, and has seemingly carried over his success to summer ball.

For Gaffney, it was an easy choice to come play in the Cape League. He says one of the biggest contributing factors to the decision was “playing against the best of the best competition. You [have] to challenge yourself to get better.” Despite Falmouth’s rough start, Gaffney hasn’t backed down from facing any of the best collegiate pitchers in the nation. “I think being here is a great opportunity to face that challenge.”

Among all of Boyle County High School’s seniors in 2022, Gaffney was named class valedictorian. In his first season playing in college, he made the Big 10 All-Academic team. When asked about balance between school and sports, Gaffney claims the key is creating a connection between the two. He says “I just love to learn, and baseball is a sport where you can learn as much as you want to.” If it's being one of the elite hitters on the Cape or studying for classes, Gaffney feels like he's “learning all the time, whether that'd be at school or baseball.”

For his true freshman season and part of his redshirt freshman season at Purdue, first base was blocked for Gaffney. As a means to stay prepared, he says “it was just the consistent daily hitting, then just trying to learn as much as I can from the guys that were in front of me.” Due to an injury, he got a chance to play and didn’t look back. Gaffney received the Big 10 Freshman of the Year award, and is now setting his sights on the season ahead in Falmouth.

Through the first week of the season, Gaffney found himself second in the Cape League in hits, with nine. Now up to 10 hits, he’s slashing .370/.393/.407. In addition to the stellar offense, he made an athletic diving stop to save two runs during Saturday’s matchup against the Chatham Anglers.

When talking about what has allowed him to perform as well as he has, Gaffney says “play[ing] this year has really helped me, understanding the ups and downs of baseball.” He admits “you're gonna have your hot streaks and you're gonna have your cold streaks.” Although Gaffney has been consistently hitting and getting on base, he’s not getting comfortable by any means. “You can't really buy into the results you can’t control,” he says, “so you have to stick with your processes and then try to stay true to [them].”

Recently elected Cape Cod League Hall of Famer and coach of the Commodores, Jeff Trundy, had high praise for his first baseman. Trundy claims “the thing that I've been impressed about is [how] he competes in the box and he doesn't seem to throw an at bat away.”

In such a short amount of time, Gaffney has made a positive impression on his coach. “I think the focus and the competitiveness is there each and every time he gets into the batter's box,” Trundy continues.

Much of Falmouth’s offensive production has been in part tied to Gaffney. On June 18, Falmouth’s lone win on the season over the Brewster Whitecaps, he went 4-for-5 with 3 RBI. Coming out of the off-day, Gaffney followed up his four hit performance with a three hit game on the road against the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox.

In tandem with his great start to the season, Gaffney is enjoying the game atmosphere, building chemistry with his team, and his own time playing in the Cape League. “It's been a great environment. All the guys on the team are really close,” Gaffney says, “I think we're all here trying to get better and we all help each other.”

There’s no doubt Gaffney has transformed himself into one of the best hitters in the Cape League, and is one of many bright spots of the young season. Regardless of Falmouth’s slow start, it’s hard not to take notice of what Gaffney has been doing. It’s not often a high school valedictorian finds himself towards the top of all offensive stats among qualified hitters. As Gaffney said before, the Cape League presented the perfect opportunity to round out his profile.

Gaffney recently entered his name into the NCAA transfer portal, but for now, his sights are set on dominating the Cape League.

(Photo by Danielle Stockwell)